R Wine Bar & Kitchen — Restaurant in Sioux Falls Township

The atmosphere, decor, and live jazz music were the three best things in this experience. The server was rather uninterested in her role as evidenced by her constantly looking around the room to see who was watching her instead of being attentive to her guests. Not sure what the reason for distraction was until we watched her roll her eyes at another male server who apparently wasn't to her liking. Oh well, millinials will be millinials! Onto the food! I had the beef medallions over mashed potatoes along with meaty diced mushrooms ( we think). The brown gravy quickly gave way to generous amounts of floating oil which became less than appetizing the more time passed. I finished half the entree and right on queue the waitress asked if I'd like a doggy bag. I didnt have the heart to tell her that I think higher of my dogs than this. I ordered the lemon cake for desert and it was delicious. Probably the best lemon cake I've ever eaten. It made me wish I'd started with it instead of the beef. The wife chose the pork chop. It was average in texture and flavor and on the dry side. The chocolate desert that she ordered was also the highlight of her meal as well. The 5 piece jazz band was great and I should have tipped them more. The decor is good, sort of. We can't seem to figure out why the food prep area is placed in the center of seating as it does nothing to compliment the flow of traffic or visual experience, it just oddly gets in the way. Overall it's a restaurant of average appeal trying hard to be at a higher level than it...

Two of us were there on a Tuesday late afternoon around 5:00. It looked like they had a party/catering going on downstairs. We were greeted by an angry cook heading downstairs. A gal came asking if we had a reservation, we did not, so they put us at a high table in the back. The menu was all sous vide. Honestly, you can use any piece of meat when using this method. 5 bins of meat were displayed on the shelf all in water with the sous vide in each one. Not attractive. The server made us feel very rushed & had no style or grace at all. We wouldn't mind paying the high prices for exceptional food & service but we had neither. We got our food about 2 minutes after we ordered it I'm sure they used teras majors for the beef. It was warm but very rare. No grain to the meat very soft & barely seasoned. A definite product of being cooked in water for several hours. The chicken parmesan was overly crusted/borderline burnt on 1 side. There was a very black piece of bread on the side. The pasta was very dry, very little sauce. The server kept rushing by us & stopped by once. We finished by sharing a piece of tirramissu. Very disappointing. It was maybe 1" thick with very little espresso taste. Almost like a dark roast coffee was used to make it. The servers all had matching jackets but the rest of their appearance looked unprofessional. Special attention was obviously given to several wealthy customers. Maybe we just got them on a bad afternoon but we definitely will ...

I've never written one of these reviews. I just came from R Wine Bar and was incredibly impressed. I was passing through on vacation and wow, am I glad I tried this restaurant!

1. If you want a true Italian restaurant, this is astonishingly close. (Maybe it's all the way there, but I've only been here one time.) I've travelled to Italy and to many places in the U.S., and it is very hard to find an "Italian" restaurant in our country that is really authentic. This was as good as I've found so far.

2. I sat at the bar, and Ty the bartender was prompt, courteous, attentive and knowledgeable.

3. The Insalata Caprese was near-perfect. Perfect would be riper tomatoes, but that waits for August. It was prepared impeccably. Took me back to my visits to Italy.

4. The Ragu (which some other reviewer did not appreciate) was sublime. The meat was cooked perfectly. The flavors were complex but nothing overwhelmed, which is what you want.

5. The polenta was delicious. I thought it would be stiffer, but I don't have polenta very often so I can't judge; but it was creamy and so tasty and paired perfectly.

6. I never needed to add any salt and pepper. So many restaurants don't know how to season food properly!

7. The wine Ty chose was just right.

8. The only "nick" I'd mention is that I wish the restaurant offered cocktails, but that's a minor thing.

My major regret is that I live too far from here to come back anytime soon. Alas!

Sioux Falls, you have a...